He was asked on purpose to bless
things as they were, and he blessed them with all his might.
Then he went on to say that the real point after all was character
and conduct; that intellect was a gift of God, and that conspicuous
athletic capacity was a gift--he did not like to say of God, so he
said of Providence; but that in one respect we were all equal, and
that was in our capacity for moral effort; and that the boy who
came to the front was not always the distinguished scholar or the
famous athlete, but the industrious, trustworthy, kindly, generous,
public-spirited boy. This he said with deep emotion, as though it
were rather a daring and unexpected statement, but discerned by a
vigilant candour; and all this with the air that he was testifying
faithfully to the true values of life, and sweeping aside with a
courageous hand the false glow and glamour of the world. We did not
like to applaud at this, but we made a subdued drumming with our
heels, and uttered a sort of murmurous assent to a noble and far
from obvious proposition.
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